Around fifteen local companies showcased future solutions through round tables, conferences, and exhibitions. Photovoltaic, solar thermal, small-scale wind, biomass… the answers are multiple, but the choice is difficult. Let’s focus on photovoltaic, the transformation of solar energy into electricity.
Made up of silicon cells (based on sand), the photovoltaic panel is surely the renewable energy of tomorrow. Effective and profitable, it is little known to the public but is beginning to break into the market. Dyane Berger, manager of Amisolaire, came on Friday 26 and Saturday 27 September, to the Acropolis, to present her renewable energy, photovoltaic. With a very pronounced German accent, she explains: “Since the 1990s, I felt that the market was going to explode. Unfortunately, it is a product that is expensive to invest in but that becomes profitable very quickly.”
Established in Nice in January 2001, Dyane Berger started her company alone. She recounts, “When I arrived, there were only two of us doing photovoltaic. The Canadian went bankrupt very quickly.” It was not until 2003 that she made her first installation in Nice, on Sainte-Marguerite Avenue. “Today, demand has increased contrary to supply. There’s a global stock shortage. That’s why prices are high,” assures the manager. For an area of 24 m², the installation costs about 21,000 euros.
“The operation of photovoltaic is simple: the solar panel, made up of silicon cells, absorbs the sun during the day. The solar energy is then transformed into electricity, stored in a battery. This can be resold to an electricity company. The price is currently set at 30 cents per kilowatt for a roof or terrace system and 56 cents for a building-integrated system. In Nice, the energy produced in a year is 1,450 kilowatt for an 8 m² area, facing south.”
“France made a huge mistake by turning towards nuclear,” denounces Dyane Berger. Yet silicon is the second most abundant element on the planet after oxygen. In 1973, a few houses were already equipped with it like an isolated site in Vésubie. At that time, “France had a very bad image of solar,” much to the regret now!
Certainly, other forms of renewable energies exist such as mini-hydro, mini-cogeneration, or biomass. Being a producer of non-polluting energy is a first step for our environment. And time is running out…
